All 07.0 - The Magic Mirror
After returning from the mountains, the three adventurers occupied themselves with their own pursuits. Caitlyn spent time with Pierce, working out the details of the events on the mountains. Victor had to adjust to raising a baby; Lucca took him to see his grandmother, who had some helpful insight into caring for a child. Thirteen days after returning, the paper ran with the story and photo of Julia and Caitlyn. Later that day, as Caitlyn hung around a tea shop enjoying her afternoon, a tern flew in and offered her a note. She found that it was a somewhat odd note from the Grand Evoker, one of the councilmembers of the High Council of Arcana. Not very long after, she was met with a second tern, with another note. The terns kept appearing all throughout the day, into the night and even the next morning. By this point, she was fed up with it. She went to the Council's tower in Losanti, where she spoke with a concierge. After a brief chat with him, she learned that this wasn't the first time the Evoker had sent discomforting letters to women who had been famous for something. He apologized for the inconvenience, and promised that she wouldn't be bothered by her again. That same morning, Lucca got a Sending from Cheko, who said that she had been practicing her Common, wouldn't say no to more books, and had more information about humans in the Underdark if they were interested. Rounding up Caitlyn and Victor, they prepared to go meet her. They first went to Kalleandar, where Victor walked into Pierce's office and dropped off Virgil, saying that if they were going to go on missions and ventures for him, he should have to babysit. He agreed to this, and the three returned to the LT, this time with the destination of the Underdark. Upon arriving, they found themselves once again in a partially submerged cavern. Having forgotten this, Caitlyn insisted that they return to buy waterproof clothes. Lucca refused, and Victor mentioned that they would wait; immediately, she left, taking their only means of escaping the caverns. Lucca chided the older man for his stupidity, and the pair waited in the dark puddle. After a while, Cheko appeared. She greeted them warmly, and showed off her up-and-coming skills in Common. She gratefully took a small collection of books from Lucca; she had no bag, so she said that she would take them back to her village so they wouldn't get ruined, and bring back his other ones. With that, she was off, leaving Victor and Lucca alone in the cave again. It was nearly 2 hours until Cheko returned and waited with them for Caitlyn. In all, it was about 4 hours before she teleported in, dressed in a very fashionable yet functional waterproof outfit. Lucca scolded her for taking so long, and withheld a casting of Comprehend Language for some time, making her interaction with Cheko a bit difficult. Eventually, he relented, and Cheko told everyone what she knew. According to the other mimigan scouts of the village, there were two places where they had seen foriegn humans. One was far beyond the waterfall; Cheko described it as being '38 tunnels away', which the others deduced must be at least several days of travel. The other place was only about two tunnels, or a few hours, away from where they were. Cheko was more than willing to lead them around, so they agreed to check out the closer area, leaving the distant one for another day when they were better prepared. With that, the group set off, being led by their cheery guide. Cheko led them down curving tunnels. On their way, they stealthily passed several 'gaudi', as Cheko called them: monstrous insect creatures, some that resembled gigantic cockroaches, and later, one that appeared to be a massive spider with a human torso. They also saw something that Cheko called a 'pignon', that was a large, grey slime that oozed away into a crack when Cheko aggravated it with her sling-staff. A few hours passed when they entered a strange sort of tunnel that appeared to have a cobblestone floor. Cheko shuddered and explained that the scouts never went this far down this tunnel: it had a bad vibe about it that made Cheko's fur stand up and gave her the jitters. Places like that had ghosts, or old magic, she explained, and the scouts knew better than to meddle with things like that. None of the others could sense anything strange, though. Lucca managed to spot a small entryway, mostly hidden by some rocks. Old stairs, almost completely eroded into a ramp, led deeper down. It appeared that this whole place was part of a ruin of some kind. They agreed that it was possible that the humans were hiding down in the ruin, since it seemed like no-one save the mimiga could sense whatever the 'bad vibe' was; Cheko suggested that she go investigate the tunnels further while the other three explore the ruin. Everyone agreed, and set out on their tasks. Caitlyn sent some Dancing Lights down into the hole; Lucca almost immediately jumped down after them. Rolling their eyes, the other two secured a rope and followed afterwards. They seemed to be in a hallway of sorts, though most of the walls had collapsed, blocking any rooms that might have once existed. At the far end was another eroded stairway. Securing and dropping another rope, they ventured further down. This floor appeared to have once consisted of a hall and two large rooms on either side; the walls had collapsed and eroded, making a single, cavernous sort of room. There was rubble everywhere, but Lucca and Caitlyn could detect some traces of magic. Telling Victor where to dig, the three split up and began poking through the debris, looking for artifacts. As Lucca explored, he realized that the creeping sensation he now had when people were nearby was active, despite the other two being too far away to trigger it. He yelled to the other two, telling them what he knew, but they decided to keep on course. When they reconvened, they pooled the objects they had found: an old chain shirt, held together by the grace of the enhancement magic on it; an iron pauldron in the same state, adorned with a crest not even Caitlyn could identify; a magic protective signet ring with the same crest as the pauldron; an eroded iron chest containing some rectangular metal bars, made of tarnished silver, stamped with the crest and kept preserved thanks to a minor enchantment that must have been once used to verify the identity of the objects, suggesting that they were once currency; and some pieces of a china set, kept safe by the grace of an enchantment that prevented breakage. Packing up these obviously rare and valuable archaeological finds in the bag of holding, they decided to head down one more entrance they had found: what probably used to be a trapdoor with a ladder, now just a hole in the floor. As they turned to leave, Caitlyn spied some strange runes that had been drawn in the dust on the floor that hadn't been there moments ago. Using Lucca's helmet, she managed to interpret the word's meaning: 'Run'. They all looked at each other, and decided that they still wanted to explore further. Climbing down their third rope, they found themselves in yet one more room. This one, the smallest room yet, had been split through the center with a fault, creating a deep trench separating them from the other side of the room. Besides some rubble, the room appeared to have old fragments of bones scattered about with the rocks, and at the bottom of the pit. What captured everyone's attention though, was a shining object in the center of the floor. It appeared to be a silver hand mirror, untouched by the ravages of time. Using the power of his halo, Lucca flew over the pit and landed beside the object. It was in fact a mirror, though when Lucca looked through it, he saw his reflection was drastically different, showing a strange, pale humanoid creature that didn't resemble him at all. Looking past, he saw the room, which quickly resolved itself into another view: a basement, filled with boxes, rugs and things, not ruined at all. In the center of the room was a woman in a dress, her head down. Calling this out to the others, Lucca started walking back towards them, when suddenly he stopped. He realized in a panic that he couldn't move his body, though he was still free to talk. Victor jumped over the ridge and went towards him to try and help. Suddenly, against his will, Lucca's arms moved to his axe, drawing it and swiping at the confused Victor. Caitlyn, springing into action, cast Hold Person, freezing Lucca solid and preventing him from attacking further; she called to Victor, telling him to get the mirror out of the druid's hands. It was Victor who then felt something grab at his consciousness; he shook it off and instead tossed his sword over to the bard, saying that if he was possessed, then he would surely kill the now-helpless Lucca. Lucca stood frozen as Victor tried to pull the mirror out of his hands. Suddenly, Caitlyn's face went blank. Leaping over the gap, she took Victor's sword and slashed at him, leaving a wound down his arm. Lucca shook off the paralysis caused by Caitlyn and was at a loss; Victor easily wrested his sword back from Caitlyn, who regained her mental presence as her arm drew a dagger and lunged at Victor again. Before it could be used against them, Victor threw his sword into his bag. The three yelled at each other in a panic, unsure of what to do. Whatever was attacking them was invisible; Caitlyn hadn't brought the cumbersome scythe with her that possessed the Ghost Touch power, and the only thing they could use to see their opponent was the mirror. Lucca and Caitlyn both recalled a story they had heard: a fairy tale about a princess, a monster and a mirror that could show hidden things, and take you there if you looked into it for too long. Lucca started to stare into it when Victor stopped him, saying that if it did take him to Etheria, assuming that that was the hidden world the story referred to, then he wouldn't be able to get back. Victor, however, had the angel's pearl necklace, which should have the power to keep him alive there. Lucca passed the mirror to him, and tried to hold back Caitlyn, whose consciousness had slipped under the aggressor's control again as she stabbed at Victor. They continued yelling as Victor stared; suddenly Victor's face went blank, and he put the mirror down as he drew his sword from his bag again. The other two readied themselves against Victor, who quickly regained his control. As Victor returned to looking into the mirror, Caitlyn tried to cast a spell unsuccessfully on the unseen force. Managing to shrug off the control of the aggressor, Victor maintained his gaze, and then suddenly vanished. The mirror fell to the ground with a clatter. There was a silence as the other two watched and waited. Lucca picked up the mirror as Caitlyn quickly left, unwilling to risk being attacked again. As Lucca looked, his reflection still wrong, he saw Victor attacking some sort of wooden spider monster, stabbing it repeatedly. He called to Caitlyn, who had already gone upstairs. Sighing in frustration he looked back; the monster was gone. Victor bowed to the woman in the dress, and she vanished. He then rotated around slowly, clearly saying "Meet...my...house," miming the actions, obviously trying to signal someone who might be watching. Lucca nodded, then heard a rumble. Realizing that the ruins were collapsing, he activated his halo and flew off and up the hole. He picked up Caitlyn, and the two escaped as the place crumbled. When they made it up, the whole area had collapsed, leaving a pit where the tunnel floor had been. They flew up to the lip of the new crater as Cheko came running over. They explained what had happened, and Cheko appeared relieved that the bad feeling was gone from the tunnel. Lucca was in a terrible state, and demanded that they get back quickly; they had to find someone who could cast the Plane Shift spell to get Victor back. When asked, Cheko said that it wasn't something she could prepare, but she could probably cast it. She also said that she had found the humans, and they were really just around the corner. Agreeing that they should probably investigate, and that it would probably take Victor some time to get back anyhow, they followed Cheko. Down a tunnel and through a hidden pass, they entered a huge cavern. Not only was it very humid, but it was also brightly lit: a large stone suspended from the ceiling shed light down upon the cave below. The save itself appeared to be a farm: acres of rock had been converted into arable land, and plants grew in orderly rows. Though each section seemed to be at a different stage of growth, they all appeared to be the same variety of plant, some variety of red flowering plant. The entire perimeter of the fields was surrounded by shining, deadly-looking constructs, almost identical to the one the group had discovered in the workshop of the Creator of Constructs. Their single eye-lenses scanned back and forth, guarding. In the center of the field, watering the plants methodically with a watering can that didn't seem to run out of water, was a man in full armour, very similar to a certain iron-clad creature they had met in a basement. Cheko explained that the stone was a shine stone, an item used by her people to light their villages. Apparently the secret to their construction was rare and passed down from master to apprentice, and she wondered how they had gotten one here. Lucca spied, on the far side of the field, a series of shipping crates and beside it, a LT portal. Cheko mentioned that the GuardMechs weren't doing a very good job of guarding: their line of sight left gaps between them that a careful person could sneak past. Deciding that they needed a sample of the plant to identify it, Caitlyn shrouded herself in invisibility and headed out. Nimbly sneaking around the GuardMechs, Caitlyn found herself in the fields. Going to a patch that was in bloom, she uprooted a smaller plant and stowed it in her shirt. Her eyes fell on the armoured gardener, and she decided he looked harmless. Taking a risk, she walked over to him. Caitlyn tried to get his attention, but he seemed oblivious to her whispers. It wasn't until she asked him his name that she got a response. He was apparently designated by a large string of numbers; she parsed from this that this was Mark-1.2, 'related' to Mark-1. Though he never stopped in his task, he seemed more than willing to talk, despite the other person being invisible; he replied plainly to any question presented to him. He explained that his job was to grow the flowers, the flowers that were to be collected by 'designate Cohen'. 'Designate Cohen' arrived every two weeks, with an average of 4.6 other undesignated people, to collect the harvested plants using the portal. There were no others who came or left, only him, the GuardMechs, and the biweekly arrival of Cohen. He had been put here a little over three months ago by the Creator, and had been farming ever since; he had not seen the Creator since arriving. Caitlyn thanked him, and asked him not to tell anyone that she had been there. He warned her that all requests could be overturned by the Creator, but he agreed to not say anything otherwise. Sneaking back, she told the other two what she had learned. Deciding that the best path was to take the nearby portal, they snuck around the farm's periphery, using the portal without any of the GuardMechs. Returning to Kalleandar, they found it to be evening. Hiding Cheko in Lucca's bag, they made their way to Pierce's house. They were announced by the butler, and taken to a study. A few minutes later, Pierce entered with Virgil. Still in testy mood, Lucca explained that they needed a Plane Shift right away, because Victor was stranded in Etheria. Passing over the baby, he said that he would go make a call. Cheko took Virgil, excited to see a baby human and mentioning that she had six children of her own. Pierce returned, asking whether they needed someone to actually cast the spell, or whether scrolls would do; they said a scroll was fine, and they only needed one, since the mirror would get them there. Pierce nodded and appeared to begin speaking to himself as he stepped out again. They waited for a little longer, when suddenly a young man entered the room. He was a smartly-dressed elf, with neat black hair and violet eyes. With a look of condescension, he asked if they were the ones who needed a scroll. When they said yes, he tossed a rolled-up paper to Caitlyn, who happened to be nearest to the door, and walked back out, looking inconvenienced. A minute after, Pierce re-entered, saying that Lupin should be along to deliver it shortly. When told that he had already arrived, he wished them luck and to tell him the outcome. Packing up, the group left, heading back to Arlington to go to Victor's house. Upon arriving, they could find no trace of him in the mirror, though they did find that, for whatever reason, the interior of the house, when seen from Etheria, appeared to have been entirely decorated by a Yetoman. Regardless, with no trace of Victor, Caitlyn said that she was going home, and would be back in the morning. Grouchy and obviously perturbed, Lucca began eating whatever food he could find in Victor's cupboards, and Cheko happily busied herself with Virgil. Lucca and Cheko both spent the night. The following morning, Caitlyn returned. When they used the mirror again, they found Victor, sitting cross-legged on the floor in the center of the sitting room. Caitlyn took up the mirror, and soon found herself standing in the strange Yeto-version of Victor's house. He did not notice her, and she stood silently, waiting for the appearance of Cheko. Minutes passed slowly, and it seemed to take quite a while for Cheko to abruptly appear in the room. She greeted the two of them, rousing Victor from his meditation. He was visibly relieved when he saw the two of them, and Cheko complained that the whole place felt screwy and was making her fur stand up and her whiskers itch. Victor said that they should hurry and leave, but his sentence petered out before he could finish. Caitlyn was about to question him, when she felt something over her shoulder. She whipped back her elbow, but hit nothing but air; the feeling shifted. Spinning around, she saw nothing, but felt a pressure on her head. Cheko yelped, and Victor looked aggravated. Flailing it off, Caitlyn watched as a man, or at least a man-like creature, landed on the ground lightly, having hopped off her head. The being was wearing fine clothes, and a discomforting harlequin mask. It mimed towards her, asking her name. Cheko was visibly frightened, and Caitlyn was perturbed; Victor told them to ignore it. The harlequin tried to engage them, the expression on its mask and its hair colour and style shifting dramatically and with no indication of movement or change; it never spoke, instead using mime. Suddenly, it stopped, seemingly interested in something else. As the three prepared to leave, he looked about the room, miming something about there being other people. When it passed the center of the room, he stopped, then twisted about and waved, apparently looking into something. The present three ignored it; Lucca, who had been watching through the mirror, got a terrible, sinking sensation that it was looking through the mirror and was waving at him. Cheko began casting the spell, as the harlequin pulled out a marking pen and drew an X on the air where he had been looking. With that, the spell completed, and the three were on Materia again. No longer in a house, the three suddenly found themselves on a bustling street. Before they could take anything in, Victor suddenly stopped, doubling over and hissing in pain. Caitlyn and Cheko asked what was wrong, but he shrugged them off; after a few minutes, he seemed to regain his composure, pale and pallid from the pain. At this point, they realized three things: that they were not only in a city, but a city in Yeto; that it was suddenly now evening; and that they had drawn a small crowd, wondering about the two Asonians who had appeared out of nowhere, one apparently with a medical problem, and the gigantic, canny rabbit. A couple of town guards came up and asked if they needed any assistance; they declined, saying that they had had a magical mishap and would be moving along presently, though they would like directions to a hotel. They were given directions, and a request to possibly cover their rabbit to prevent issues. Putting Cheko into a bag as usual, they headed towards a hotel. They learned that they were in Hikon City, actually quite close to Nagaoka, the coastal city with a LT station. Victor wondered about how much time he had lost; apparently it had felt like he had been in Etheria for days or weeks, though in Materia he had only been gone for less than a day. This heartened him, and the three spent a restful night in a hotel, after sampling the local cuisine. In the morning, Caitlyn checked them out of the hotel while Victor waited in the lobby. He noticed that there was a Yetoman staring at him; he did not stop when Victor began looking at him in turn. Victor approached, asking if he needed help with something. The man asked how long Victor had been in Yeto, and referred to him by name; Victor replied that he had been there less than a day, and was leaving presently. The man mentioned Bethany, and seemed surprised when told that she was dead. He had apparently had dealings with her, though was less than direct about what. He asked what Victor's business now was, to which he replied that it was none of his. The man, unperturbed, politely took his leave. Confused and taken off-guard, Victor wondered about the encounter; it wasn't until too late that he realized that he hadn't even asked his name. Caitlyn, now finished, joined him, and they set off for Nagaoka. Cheko had apparently prepared a variety of travelling spells, and the trio made good time. Cheko revelled in the ability to run in the open fields, having never seen such open spaces before. By late afternoon, the group had made it to the city, and went directly to the LT station. After dropping Cheko off in the Underdark, promising to keep in touch, they returned to Arlington. Victor hastened to his house to reunite with Virgil; Caitlyn walked him there before collecting the relics that Victor had been carrying. Over the next few days, Cailyn spent much of her time in the university library, analyzing the various items she had collected. Conferring with expert archaeologists, they dated the items back to the ancient kingdom of Valparaiso, the human dynasty that predated Riolythe. They transferred the useful magics to other, less valuable items for the adventurers to use, while the relics were donated for study and display. The plant, after searching through botanical records, was apparently only known as Flore rubro, a flowering plant native only to the Peninsula, and notable for its effects on the adrenal system, as well as a mild opioid effect. She also related all of the information regarding Cohen and the farm to Pierce, seeking advice as to how to proceed. Pierce, though obviously convinced that this was a serious issue, doubted his ability to rouse any sort of meaningful police or army response, and worried that any sort of operation involving his employees would lead to many deaths and an uncertain outcome. He suggested that, since they were involved in the first capture of Cohen, the Wizard Council might be willing to offer assistance; Caitlyn said that she would take that matter into her own hands. While this occurred, Lucca and Victor dealt with concerns of their own. Category:Advent of the All